Input sought on public housing

The Columbus Housing Authority is seeking public input on its annual plan and report before the documents must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Deborah Holt, the agency’s executive director, said the report and plan are an annual requirement for the city to continue receiving federal housing money. Columbus Housing Authority provides 158 housing units around the community and administers the Section 8 rental assistance program with private landlords.

The three housing projects include 40 units at Pence Place on Pence Street, 50 units at Heritage Woods on McClure Road, and 25 units for seniors and disabled tenants at Sycamore Place on Sycamore Street. The city also has 43 individual homes around the community.

Holt said the agency wants to know from tenants what sort of work needs to be done in the units and any improvements that could be made.

“We are in really good shape, but we continue to ask tenants what they would like to see done and where they see problems,” Holt said.

The agency has finished replacing all of the roofs damaged in the May 2011 hail and wind storm, and all of the damage from the 2008 flood now has been repaired, Holt said.

The next big project will be using a $95,000 community development block grant to replace about half of the windows in the Pence Place apartments. Holt said the units, built in the early 1980s, have single-pane glass that have problems with condensation and freezing.

Although the report must be finished annually, it is always a problem to get responses from tenants and the community, Holt said.

Meetings for the tenants will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the community room at Sycamore Place, 222 Sycamore St., and 4 p.m. Wednesday at the housing agency offices, 799 McClure Road.

A meeting for the public will be at 4 p.m. April 10 at the housing agency offices.